Being A Little More Fit Helps

Your morning workout may help you live longer than your neighbor who never budges from the couch!

New research on 4,384 middle-aged and older Americans finds that physical activity boosts longevity - even beyond exercise's cardiovascular benefits and effects on weight.

Researchers assessed participants' fitness using treadmill tests, divided them into five groups based on fitness, then followed them for an average of nine years.

After adjusting for factors like obesity, hypertension and diabetes, the least-fit group was still more than four times as likely to die during that period than the most-fit group.

Even being just a little more fit was associated with a big longevity improvement: While 25% of the least-fit group died during the study period, only 13% of the next-least-fit participants died.

Researchers noted that overall exercise habits among participants didn't vary much during their adults lives - but recent activity did: Since it is recent activity that offers protection, it is important to maintain regular physical activity throughout life.